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Power ranking: How much of a pain is your major?

There’s no doubt that all majors at UC Berkeley are a ton of work, but it’s also no secret that some majors have a heavier course load than others. To track down how much sh*t you have to do for your major, we’ve gathered the top five most popular majors here at UC Berkeley — MCB, political science, economics, psychology, and English – and have ranked their workload by the following criteria: amount of lower division prerequisites before major declaration and average GPA of required classes.

Average GPA of required classes: 9/10. The average GPA is a relatively low 2.82.

Total: 18/20.

Economics

Amount of undergraduate prerequisites: 7.5/10. Econ has seven prerequisites, which is a slight bummer for Econ majors.

Average GPA of required classes: 6/10. The average GPA is a reasonable 3.32 for Haas rejects Econ majors.

Total: 13.5/20.

Political Science

Amount of undergraduate prerequisites: 5/10. Honestly, having only three prerequisites sounds like a pretty good time.

Average GPA of required classes: 8/10. The average GPA is a 3.17, which will pretty much screw over your chances for law school.

Total: 13/20.

Psychology

Amount of undergraduate prerequisites: 8.5/10. Psychology majors have eight prerequisites for their major, which seems like cruel and unusual punishment.

Average GPA of required classes: 4/10. With the average GPA being a 3.33, psych majors have a better shot at making the GPA cutoff for med school than their MCB peers.

Total: 12.5/20.

English

Amount of undergraduate prerequisites: 5/10. English only has three undergraduate prerequisites (only counting 45A, 45B, and 45C — the rest can be upper division).

Average GPA of required classes: 4/10. The average GPA is a 3.33, which will help those English majors who have their eye on law school.

Total: 9/20.

There you have it: MCB majors have it pretty rough, while English majors might have a slightly easier ride. In any case, UC Berkeley’s notoriously difficult and so, regardless of your major, know that we’re all screwed together.

About this blog

The Daily Clog (Cal+Blog) accumulates various tidbits about Berkeley and college life. We focus on the UC campus, the city of Berkeley and Berkeley’s online community. We give our two cents on all the goings-on.